Hero
by Ultimate Prime
Summary: The short story of one whose life was changed by the web-slinger.


Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Spider-Man or Marvel Comics.

Author's Note: I almost turned this into a story, but then decided not to write this, and then later I reread it and decided to make it into a one-shot.

Hero

1/1

It was actually a cold night from a nice summer day in New York . Not bone chilling, but right now, a young man felt completely numb. Emotionally, anyways.

He couldn't blame himself for feeling that way. He felt like the biggest loser tonight, summoning up all memories of past regrets and mistakes in his life. A lot of people, mainly his family, who had loved him so much had nothing but hopes for him. Hopes that he would do great in life and meet success, that he would make his dreams become reality. He had the open road, and he just needed to take it.

Somewhere along the way, he looked away and slid off that road. He had lost track of what was really important to him, and had lost sight that there were people who loved him unconditionally, even though his mind told him otherwise.

_It's all in your head, _a voice inside would tell him. He could still see the heartbreaking look on his parents face when he completely had flunked out of college, losing his grant money, as well as any other dream he had. His father, a NYPD detective and a hero to this city, had gone ballistic about the news. Though his mother managed to calm both her son and her husband, the damage had been done and he ran away. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, just running away from his problems. He just couldn't find the strength in him to face them, and the people who were hurting were his loved ones as well as himself.

He had a plan to drink his sorrows away though he had never had the taste of alcohol before, and looking down at the still-full beer bottles, it looked like he never would.

_It wouldn't work, anyways. _

So he thinks about his life, of all the people he has wronged from childhood and to this moment on. The pain makes him numb, he doesn't even feel the tears welling up in his eyes.

For a moment though, something does catch his attention: the street below, just the distance between itself and the roof of the old apartment building he's taking shelter in, though he has hardly a cent in his name to afford a room.

For a moment, he believes he's found a solution to end all the misery he's brought onto others and onto himself. Standing up, he takes another look down. It's so far, but if he closes his eyes then the distance would disappear, and it will be over, just like that.

"Mom….Dad….I'm sorry."

He raises his arms up to the sides, and closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he leans himself forward on the edge. It's enough to make him feel just the air. In just a few seconds, it would all be over.

The end for him never came however. He hadn't landed on the hard concrete pavement. Instead, he felt a strong arm grab him and suddenly he was flying back on the roof top. The landing was actually gentle.

"That was a close one." said a voice.

He opened his eyes, and they nearly went wide like an owl's when he saw that the one responsible for preventing him to end his life was….._HIM!_

"Listen, I don't know what exactly is going on in your life, but I do know that giving up is not the solution. It only makes it worse. Trust me."

He still couldn't say anything. He did catch the edge of the roof and the street below again from the corner of his eye, and realization suddenly hit him hard in the gut that he couldn't breath for a second.

Was he….about to commit suicide…?!

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back at his rescuer. His rescuer said nothing, but just nodded his head and then headed towards the edge of the roof. He looked ready to leap up, until…

"Wait!" he shouted. "I….Thank you. I owe you my life."

Spider-Man turned halfway around. "Then make it count for something." With that, Spider-Man leaped high into the air and web-slung away into the city. It was that moment that he fell to his knees, and cried. Rather it was just luck or an act of God, he wasn't sure. Spider-Man had saved his life, a life that just moments ago he felt that he didn't deserve.

Now, he finally saw that the biggest regret would be to take his own life.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, he stood back up again and this time with a new surge of hope filling his body, and not an ounce of depression and guilt anywhere in his mind. For the first time in a long time, his eyes were clear.

Spider-Man gave him a second chance, and he planned to repay the web-slinger by obliging his recent request.

And so he did. The moment he returned home, he made up with the promise that the future would be better. It was hard work, but he had gotten back into college. Later on, he married with two beautiful twin daughters and became a student councilor, helping teens and others when it seemed like there was nowhere else to turn.

There was never a day that went by that he didn't look up at the sky to catch the web-head turning the city of Manhattan into his personal jungle. Each year since that one day, he always visited the place where Spider-Man had saved his life, remembering.

He had fulfilled his promise to Spider-Man, and he was still nowhere near through with it.

_FIN_


End file.
